This sticker album is the jewel in the crown of the research carried out by artist Benjamin Li into the place of Chinees-Indisch restaurants within the culinary landscape of the Netherlands. Inspired by the place his parents’ restaurant occupied in his own life, since 2014 Li has visited Chinees-Indisch restaurants the length and breadth of the Netherlands, photographing the dishes he ate in them and starting a collection of menus. What crystallised out after these years of travelling, photographing and collecting is a collection that the exudes the rich life of the Chinees-Indisch restaurant and takes ownership of the stereotypes associated with this.

The sticker album is a surprising but appropriate form for this collection. Every copy of the book contains two sets of ten stickers, on which the photos of the dishes are printed. The fact that the reader is invited to stick the stickers into the book, and the fact that your collection is not immediately complete, arouses curiosity about the food. ‘What does no. 50 Cantonese Koe Loe Yuk look like?’ – and more importantly: what does it taste like? Each copy of the book also contains an overview of all the stickers as an insert, in the style of a typical menu from a Chinees-Indisch restaurant.

The sticker album and the research underpinning it have both been implemented down to the smallest detail. Almost all Chinees-Indisch restaurants in the Netherlands were visited, with anecdotes and family photos relating to these forming the backgrounds to the sticker pages; an essay reproduced in both Dutch and Chinese provides context for the collection, and the glossy cover of this slender book means that its feel alone makes it recognisable as a sticker album. Readers wanting to fill up their album can order extra packs of stickers from the artist’s website – or get in touch with people willing to swap.